China's manned submersible Jiaolong descended¹ to 6,699 meters in the Mariana Trench² on Tuesday, recording³ images of two swimming snailfishes.

 

中国蛟龙号载人潜水器周二在马里亚纳海沟潜入6699米深的海底，拍到两种狮子鱼游泳的照片。

 

Tuesday's mission was Jiaolong's fourth dive in the trench this year.

 

The dive began at 7:03 a.m. local time and reached the planned depth at 10:21 a.m. where scientists worked for three hours and ten minutes. 

 

Jiaolong collected samples of rock, sediment⁴, deep-sea life and sea water in this dive, and recorded images of two swimming snailfishes.

 

"Research on snailfish, a typical deep-sea species, deepens our understanding on the evolution of deep-sea fishes and their environmental adaptation mechanism," said scientist Peng Xiaotong.

 

Jiaolong's first dive of this year in the world's deepest known trench took place on May 23, with Xinhua News Agency journalist Liu Shiping descending⁵ inside the submersible along with scientists to a depth of 4,811 meters. The second and third dives on May 25 and 27 reached depths of 6,300 meters and 6,544 meters respectively.

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